


There She Goes Again

by enjolras_lexa



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Awkward Romance, Complete, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Mutual Pining, Rory and Jess are bros, fake dating au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-02-18 14:56:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18701878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enjolras_lexa/pseuds/enjolras_lexa
Summary: Paris was on the warpath. The craft warpath. “It’s a pen holder! For pens and other writing utensils, which people think it’s perfectly okay to leave all over the dorm room! In drawers, on the table, on the furniture, on the floor. I am constantly picking up after everyone and it’s exhausting! I make beautiful crafts everyone can use and enjoy. I contribute-”“What’s wrong?” Rory gave in.“My mother called.”Set in the Yale years, Paris coerces Rory into "dating" her to get her parents off her back about not being in a relationship. Obviously their intense mutual pining won't be affected by this at all, right?Title from There She Goes by The La's (S1 E1)





	There She Goes Again

 

Day Zero -– Monday

 

Rory flinched.

She had been curled up peacefully on the sofa in the ‘shared roommate space’ (Paris’ name) going over her meticulous notes she’d made for exam revision one last time before bed, when Paris came out of their shared room, slamming the door violently behind her and making a beeline for her craft table.

Rory decided not to ask what was wrong. It was usually the safest option. With Paris there was always something.

After another hour or two had passed and Rory’s handwriting was starting to blur before her eyes, she decided to turn in for the night. Her eyes widened when she glanced at the clock.

“Oh  _crap_ , is it really 2am?”

Paris didn’t even look up from where she was carefully painting macaroni with her set of multicoloured acrylics and supergluing it onto a coffee mug. “That clock is wrong, according to my watch it’s 2:03:17.”

“Well seeing as you keep scarily accurate time, you didn’t think to let me know?” Rory said testily. “I have an exam tomorrow at 9. Or later today, depending on your latest paradigm shift.”

“Well excuse me if I have a little too much on my mind right now to be your own personal stopwatch,” Paris snapped.

“Too busy making your very own personal- What is that?”

“It’s a pen holder! For pens and other writing utensils, which people think it’s perfectly okay to leave all over the dorm room! In drawers, on the table, on the furniture, on the floor. I am constantly picking up after everyone and it’s exhausting!  _I_  make beautiful crafts everyone can use and enjoy. I  _contribute_ -”

“What’s wrong?” Rory gave in.

“My mother called.”

Rory winced.

A lifetime of living with Lorelei had taught her that that sentence never bode well, or any sentence beginning with the phrase ‘my mother’ for that matter. Or ‘Emily’. She tried to broach the subject delicately. “What did she say?”

“Why thank you for asking! Since you want to know so bad, she and my father just split up  _again_ , and so she felt the need to grill me on my nonexistent love life.”

Rory winced again.

Paris and her latest girlfriend had just broken up a few weeks ago after what must have been their thirtieth fight over the control of the thermostat.

“I mean come  _on_ ,” Paris ranted, “Can you believe she had to mess with the heat  _every_  time she came over? Because I still can’t! I keep the room at an optimal temperature for the season! Why is that so hard to understand! It is not too cold in here! It is physically impossible for it to be too cold in here!  _God_  what a control freak. This is why my relationships never work out. I’m too mellow and easygoing. My carefree, lackadaisical worldview is causing the women I date to think they can just walk all over me. Well not anymore!”

“You’re too  _mellow_ -“

“Anyway, Mommy Dearest was all ‘You need to settle down Paris! You’re going to be alone forever otherwise Paris!’ Daddy and I are getting our third divorce, but your love life is clearly the issue here Paris!”

Rory flopped back onto the couch. When Paris got like this it was best to just let her get it all out. She yawned, and tried to cover it behind her textbook.

“So in the end I gave in! I told her we were dating so she would just fucking. Shut.  _UP_!”

“You  _what_!” Suddenly Rory was wide awake. She jumped up and grabbed the mug and the infamous glue gun out of Paris’ hands. “Paris! What the hell were you thinking?!”

Paris just shrugged helplessly.

“’I’m sorry but you didn’t have to listen to it! On and on and on and on!” Paris’ voice was starting to get hysterical. “I told her I was seeing someone and that we hadn’t been going out for a very long time so that was why I hadn’t told her but that now it was starting to get serious, and she wouldn’t stop pumping me for information like a professional fucking interrogator from the CIA, and so I gave her your name. I panicked okay!!! I had to say it was you, there’s no one else that I tolerate!” Paris hyperventilated.

Rory tried to stay calm and come up with a plan. “Okay. This is okay. We can fix this-“

“How?! I already told her! I can’t take that back! She will never leave me alone ever again!”

“Alright well say we do go through with it. What’s the worst that could happen?” Rory tried to be optimistic.

“She wants to meet you.”

“There it is,” Rory said weakly. She sat down at the craft table next to Paris and took a handful of macaroni.

“Look this doesn’t have to be a disaster!” Paris said exasperatedly. “You can tell your mom and your stepdad, Luke is it? I bet they ask about whether you’re dating all the time! This could work out for both of us!”

“Well I generally date men, for starters,” Rory pointed out.  

“Generally, not always,” Paris argued. “You’re out to them, right? It’s not a huge shocker for them that you could potentially be hypothetically attracted to a woman, even if you’re not a giant lesbian like me.”

“Hypothetically, yes, but-“

“Great! So can we do this? Just for like a week or something?” Paris looked desperate.

Rory sighed internally. “One week, that’s final!”

“Oh you won’t be sorry!” Paris gushed, a smile breaking out onto her face.

 _I already am,_ Rory thought. “I’m going to bed!”

 

 

 

Day One –- Tuesday 

When Rory got back to the dorm the following evening, Paris was all smiles.

“Hey!” she greeted Rory at the door with a fresh cup of coffee. “How was your exam?”

“Fine-“

“So I thought we should get our story straight?” Paris pressed on without waiting for an answer. “My mother is coming up the day after tomorrow for lunch around 3, are you free?”

Rory frowned, but she took the cup eagerly as she pushed past Paris. “I was going to go to the bookstore with Jess, but we can reschedule. And nothing about this whole sting operation is even remotely straight Paris.”

“Touché,” Paris conceded, still grinning like a cat with a bird in its mouth. “And yes you can, because lunch with your girlfriend and her mother takes precedence over, what, your ex-boyfriend who is now also your step-brother?”

Rory wrinkled her nose. “Ew. And wrong, because Jess is Luke’s nephew, not his son. If anything we’re….I don’t even know but we’re friends! And you and I are not actually girlfriends!”

“I know that! Look if you don’t want to do this I can find someone else. Or tell my mother I’m becoming a nun.”

Rory waved her off. “No, whatever, it’s fine. It’s just for a couple days tops, right? Let’s get our story sorted out. When did we meet?”

“Chilton, like real life,” Paris retorted, looking at Rory like she was an idiot. “My mother already knows who you are given how much I complained about you in high school. Not that she ever really listens to me, but a word or two gets through once in a while. Let’s just stick to facts, the best lies have some truth in them.”

“Alright, we met at Chilton and reconnected at Yale,” Rory summarized, deciding to let the other half of Paris’ comment slide. “We’re still roommates, obviously. Who asked who out, and when?”

“Well Rachel and I broke up three weeks ago, so let’s say you asked me out a week after that.”

“Cool, I hardly ever ask people out,” Rory said, pleased with her character’s romantic side. “Let’s say we went to The Rocky Horror Picture Show and got tacos and Thai food afterwards.”

“A little boring, but quirky. It could work. Who kissed who first?”

The next hour passed quickly as they ate their way through enough Indian food to feed, well, India, and drank their way through a bottle and a half of wine. The more they drank, the more outrageous their planning became (“Who’s the dom and who’s the sub?” “ _Paris!_ ”) but eventually they had created enough believable lies to get them through a lunch.

“There’s just one more thing,” Paris said carefully.

“What? I thought we had all our bases covered.”

“Intimacy.”

Rory gave her a look.

“I meant kissing,” Paris clarified, “Hand-holding, cheek kisses, a peck on the lips. We’re supposed to be in our honeymoon stage, and if my mother doesn’t see us acting totally in love she’s going to make us an appointment with her couples’ counselor.”

“Fine,” Rory relented. Maybe it was the wine, but Paris had a point. Plus she was pretty. Yep, it was time to stop drinking. “But not tonight. I’m going to bed.”

“Rory!”

 

 

Day Two – Wednesday

Rory came back to the dorm room that evening to find their other two suitemates, Tanna and Janet, in the living space. Giggling. Well, they were still freakish; Janet was holding a plank on her neon-pink yoga mat and Tanna appeared to be doing some sort of equation on a dry erase board. But yes, giggling.

“What’s going on?” Rory asked apprehensively.

“Go in your room, Casanova’s waiting for you,” Janet said innocently, managing a wave of her fingertips and resuming her perfect form.

Rory thought she knew what was going on. And she didn’t like it.

She plunked her backpack down on the sofa and disappeared into hers and Paris’ room with a backward glare at the two traitors.

Paris was waiting on her bed reading, but her head perked up when Rory came in.

“I have more wine?” Paris offered.

Rory sat down next to her, poured herself a glass, and drained it.

Rory put her empty glass down and shifted on the bed so her leg was pressed against Paris’. “How’s that?”

Paris nodded. “Good instincts, get in each other’s personal space.” Paris hesitated for a moment, before taking Rory’s hand and lacing their fingers together.

Rory tried to ignore the sparks she felt as Paris stroked her hand with her thumb. Definitely too much wine had been consumed tonight.

“Very nice,” she said instead, trying to remain objective. “I asked you out, so I should make the move.”

Paris nodded again. “Ready when you are.”

Rory took a shaky breath. It was just a kiss, right?

She squeezed Paris’ hand, cupped her jaw with her free hand, and lowered her lips to Paris’.  _Wow,_ was all she could think as their lips touched.  _Oh wow, really wow. There is a lot of wow going on right now._

Paris hummed softly as Rory deepened the kiss and sucked on her lower lip and her tongue. Rory really liked that sound. She stroked her hands through Paris’s hair, noticing for the first time how soft it was. But Paris was the one to break the kiss.

“That was good!” she said encouragingly, seemingly unaffected by what had just happened. “I don’t really think we want to be making out in front of her, but one drawn-out kiss would be okay. Show her I can be affectionate, or whatever.”

“In front of who?” Rory’s head felt light.

Paris looked at her like she had asked who Jane Austen was. “My mother,” she said slowly. “I think you need to get some sleep, it’s only 11 but we both have a big day tomorrow. Let’s go to bed.”

It took Rory longer than it probably should have to realize Paris had meant separately.

 

Day Three -- Thursday

Rory went to her Thursday morning class, successfully handed in her assignment, and came back for a nap before she had to meet Paris’ mother and thereby ushering in the apocalypse. She came to a few hours later with a great sense of peace. Then she opened her eyes. 

“Ahhhhh!  _Paris!_ What the fuck!” 

 

Paris blinked and sat back on her heels from where she’d been leaning over Rory’s sleeping form. “Wow, Gilmore  _can_  swear. Who knew.” 

“You were leering into my face and watching me while I slept!” Rory sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. She clutched her pillow to her chest for comfort. “I think I’m going into shock.” 

“Oh don’t whine.” Paris rolled her eyes. “I let you sleep in, but we have to leave to meet my mother in precisely-“-she checked her watch-“One hour and thirty three minutes.” 

“Fine!” Rory surrendered. “Go away so I can get ready.” 

“This relationship’s off to a great start,” Paris quipped. 

“Don’t even!” 

 -- 

 “Stop pacing,” Rory said, channelling Paris’ authority in the hope that it would get her to calm down.

Paris glared at her from across the table on the patio of the café. “I’m seeing my mother in less than five minutes, what do you want from me?” 

“I want you to sit down at this beautiful table in this beautiful café,” Rory said, as calmly as she could muster. “And then I want to check your pulse.” 

Paris glared again but she sat down. 

“So we’ll have lunch, maybe meet with your mother once or twice more over the next few weeks, and then have an amicable breakup that lets us remain friends and roommates?” Rory asked, knowing from experience that Paris was significantly calmer if there was a clearly established game plan. “You’re not going to check my WPM are you?” 

“Oh ha ha ha!” Paris exclaimed hysterically. 

Rory took her hand in a desperate, calm-the-crazy-person attempt, and just in time too because Paris’ mother was early. 

 “Mom!” Paris jumped up, the sat back down quickly and took Rory’s hand again. Rory tried to blink “You’re going to break it if you keep squeezing it that hard” in Morse code, but eventually she had to give up and focus on the conversation. 

“Paris, and this must be Rory, I barely recognize you, you’ve grown up so much since Chilton,” Paris’ mother said pleasantly. Rory was taken aback; on the few occasions she’d seen Paris with her mother there had seemed to be a lot of tension.

“Everyone’s gotten older since high school, Mom, that’s how it works.”

Rory smiled despite herself.  _And there it is, courtesy of Paris._

“It’s wonderful to see you again Mrs. Geller,” Rory said with as much enthusiasm as she could force.

“Oh please, call me Susan,” Paris’ mother insisted. “After all, it’s not Mrs. Geller anymore is it?”

Rory winced. “Sorr-”she began, but Paris cut her off.

“We’ve been dating for about two weeks,” she announced, going totally against the game plan of ‘keep it casual and act natural’ that Rory had come up with.

“Yeah,” Rory jumped in, before Paris could make a comment on how much sex they were supposedly having. “I saw how down she was over that breakup a while back, and, uh, well, I’d had a huge crush on her since high school and, um, I thought I’d take a chance and ask her out.”

“Oh that’s lovely!” Paris’ mother gushed. “You know as a mother I worry about our Paris-”

Paris snorted; Rory tried to cover it with a well-timed cough.

“How are things going with you two so far? I know it’s all very new, but with Paris’ relationship history I must say it’s nice to have a bit of hope for once-“  

The whole thing went pretty uneventfully, other than the six (6) kisses they had had to share. It was awkward at first, but eventually Rory stopped worrying and Paris stopped hyperventilating and it was actually nice. Rory couldn't help the way her stomach lurched each time their lips met, but she tried to keep her face from showing it. Stupid nerves. 

\---

 

“So you’re telling me you went on a date with Paris and her mother?! And the world didn’t end?” 

Rory rolled her eyes. “Yes, and keep your voice down.” 

Rory and Jess were browsing for books about an hour and a half after her ‘date with Paris and her mom’. She hadn’t stopped overthinking for the entire hour and thirty-four minutes (dammit, Paris was rubbing off on her.)

She had decided to just tell Jess she and Paris were dating, rather than the whole complicated fake-dating scenario that would just make him make fun of her a lot more than what he’d say about her actually dating Paris. 

“I just wanted to make sure,” Jess raised his hands in a plea for mercy. “Just to confirm that I haven’t spontaneously lost my mind, y’know, or that-“ 

“Alright, yes I’m dating Paris, and that’s all you’re getting.” Rory gave him a look she’d learned from Paris, the practiced death glare.

”The same Paris we know, or a different-“ 

“Jess!”

Apparently she needed more practice.

She led Jess to a quieter corner of Stars Hollow Books, having unpleasant flashbacks to doing similar things when they had dated. She took a deep breath. “Look, yes, it’s true. Paris and I have been dating for the past few weeks. We’ve been keeping our private life private but I have just now met her mother since she happened to be near Yale for a few days. There’s no juicy gossip, and since everything’s going so well I’d appreciate it if you’d keep this under your hat for now. Deal?”

Jess rolled his eyes. “Fine. Do you think she's single?" 

Rory followed his gaze to the cash register, where the pretty auburn-haired cashier was enthusiastically enjoying her popsicle. "You're not allowed to eat in here," Rory muttered. "I worked here and I wasn't allowed to eat in here." 

The cashier swirled her tongue suggestively over the tip as she rang up the next customer, before tilting the popsicle and sucking at the side to catch any unwanted dripping. Jess' breath hitched. 

Rory smacked his arm. 

"Ow! You trying to maim me?" 

"You're disgusting and pathetic," Rory reprimanded. "Stop leering and finish your browsing so we can leave." 

"Alright!" 

The cashier bit off the end of the popsicle with a sudden snap of her jaws. Jess flinched as though he could feel it. 

"Serves you right." Rory smacked the back of his head with a hardcover Anna Karenina and went to purchase the newest additions to her library. 

\---

“Hey, what’s knew with you, kiss any cute girls lately?” 

“What?!” Rory checked the Caller ID again. Yep, it was still Lorelei. “What do you mean?” she asked, trying to keep her voice casual. 

“Well,” Lorelei began, “A little birdie whose name begins with Jay and ends in Esse-“ 

Rory groaned.  _Perverted little snitch-_

“Might have hypothetically mentioned to Elle Uke who might have hypothetically mentioned to me, Elle Orelei, your one and only mother, that until today you had neglected to mention that you were dating a certain French city-“ 

Rory hung up. “Paris!” she shouted to the craft table in the other room, “We have a problem!” 

 

 

Day Four -- Friday 

 

Rory tentatively knocked on the door of her own house in Stars Hollow with more trepidation than she ever had in her life. When nobody said anything or came to open the door for her, she tried the knob, which turned easily in her hand. She opened the door and put her purse down on the table in the entryway. 

 

“Hello?” she called. “Mom? Luke?” 

 

“Just in the kitchen!” called Lorelei. 

That just on its own was weird enough. Lorelei didn’t cook. Maybe Luke was cooking, or maybe Lorelei had coerced him into ordering from Al’s. He was doing some okay-tasting Thai dishes now that hadn't sent anyone to the hospital. Yet.

Rory shut the door behind her and made her way to the kitchen. 

 

“Okay, what’s going-”

 

“SURPRISE!” 

 

Rory screamed. Everyone in town was in the kitchen, as well as her grandparents and Jess and Logan and- 

 

“Paris! What the hell!” 

 

Paris was standing on top of the kitchen table, which was strange enough on its own. She was perched on the corner of the table next to a giant wedding cake which appeared to be in the process of going stale. Stranger still, she was wearing a big fluffy white wedding dress and a huge veil, and she only had one shoe on. 

 

“You promised to marry me,” Paris was saying reproachfully while Rory gaped at her. 

 

“No I didn’t! It was just a fake dating whatever thing for your mother! What the hell is going-?”

“You promised to marry me,” Paris repeated. “You promised.” The third time, Dean, Logan, and Jess all said it with her.

On the fourth time Luke and Lorelei and Rory’s grandparents joined in.

Rory’s great grandmother came in through the side door, holding the water bottle which she handed to Dean. 

 

“Wait, you’re dead!” Rory exclaimed. 

 

“You promised,” said Lorelei the First imperiously. 

“You promised to marry her,” Kirk echoed. 

 

“Kirk! What the fuck is going on?!” 

 

“You promised.” 

“You promised.”

“You-“ 

 ---

Rory woke up in a cold sweat. 

 

“Rory you promised!” It was Paris.  _Real_  Paris, who was having a very real freak-out. Having just come back from Krav Maga wasn’t doing wonders for her calmness either. “You promised you’d get up early so we could get the meet-up in the smallest town in America out of the way this morning so I could get back here at a decent hour to study. You promised! I thought you were up! And now it’s after ten, and your alarm didn’t go off, and-” 

 

“-And I overslept,” Rory finished. She clutched her pillow to her chest like a security blanket, her heart still pounding from her nightmare. “Bad time to mention I feel sick?” 

 

“Your mom, your problem,” Paris said heartlessly. “ _I_ don’t have to go. _My_ precious nuclear family doesn’t hang in the balance.” 

 

Rory blanched at the thought of having to explain the situation to her mother and Luke by herself. At least with Paris there, she would irritate them into fury and they could make an excuse to leave early. Lorelei would be so relieved she wouldn’t even question it. 

 

“I can be ready in half an hour. We can leave early if you have a lot of studying to do.” 

 

Paris shrugged. “If you drive I can read in the car. I’ll get my motion sickness bracelets.” 

 

“Really? You don’t mind?” 

 

“You’re doing me a giant favour, least I can do is help cover for you to your mom. Are we dating when we’re at hers or do you want to set the story straight?” 

“Again, none of this is straight,” Rory quipped. “And no, let’s just keep up the ruse. We’re breaking up next week anyway right? What’s the difference if we extend the lie a little, it’s only temporary.”

“Well aren’t we very go with the flow this morning,” Paris observed. “I’m high on Krav Maga endorphins, what’s your excuse?” 

Rory grimaced. “Had a nightmare.”

Paris checked her watch. “Well if you want to talk about it either keep it snappy or yell it to me while you’re in the shower. We should go in 45 minutes tops.” 

 

“I’ll just tell you after. Hey I think the endorphins are wearing off.” 

 

“No kidding? I need to go make a study chart, finals start in three months. I’ve just been so behind with the whole life of deception thing we’ve got going on now.” 

 

“Takes a lot out of you,” Rory agreed. “Anyway. Shower.” 

 

“Charting.” Paris drew back her chair and got settled at her desk with a ruler, some graph paper, and six different coloured highlighters. “Give me a shout when you’re ready.” 

“I’ll get my megaphone.”

 ---

“Ring the doorbell.” 

 

Rory sighed. Paris huffed. “I said, ring the doorbell.” 

 

“I heard you, Paris,” Rory muttered. 

 

“Just wanted to make sure you hadn’t gone temporarily deaf,” Paris snarked. “Ring the fucking doorbell. Let’s get this over with.” 

Rory rang the doorbell. 

“Let yourselves in!” Lorelei called. 

Rory turned the doorknob and went in, not without a certain amount of apprehension. 

“You’re wigging,” Paris observed as she hung up her coat.

“I’m not wigging. I just had a dream-induced déjà vu episode, totally normal.” 

“You dreamed a dream and so did I, that dreamers often lie,” Paris quoted. “Suck it up, this is going to be painful enough.” 

 Rory glared and disappeared into the living room. "Mom?"

"Rory! My one and only daughter, light of my life!" 

Lorelei pulled Rory into a tight hug. "So I finally get to meet my future daughter-in-law?" she whispered into Rory's ear. 

"I am going to murder Jess," Rory whispered back. 

\---

“So??? How long has this been going on??” Lorelei asked, nudging Rory’s knee under the table. 

“A few weeks, just after Paris and what’s-her-name broke up,” recited Rory. 

“Aaand....” prompted Lorelei after a moment’s awkward silence. 

“And we’re happy!” Rory added, taking Paris’ hand as an afterthought. 

"That's great! Listen, the grandparents weaseled it out of me and you need to come for dinner tonight, okay?" Lorelei dropped the bomb before disappearing into the kitchen. "Who wants popcorn?" she called over her shoulder. 

"I'll have some!" Paris called back. 

Rory gave her a look. 

"What? I'm hungry." 

Rory rolled her eyes. "I'll be right back, just gotta commit a quick matricide." 

 

"The grandparents know? Are you out of your mind?" 

Lorelei jumped, scattering popcorn across the kitchen floor. "Jeeze, just don't sneak up on me like that-" 

"The grandparents? They know! And now we have to bring Paris to, what, Friday night dinner 2.0?" 

"Actually they insisted on coming here," Lorelei corrected. "I'm sorry kiddo but you know what they're like! 'I have to meet this girl!' 'But you've already met her mom-' 'But I must re-meet her, it's only proper Lorelei. But what would you know, you got married  _after_  having children! That is if this ridiculous relationship with Luke even lasts-' 'But mom!' 'No buts Lorelei. Rory isn't ashamed of this relationship is she? She did intend to tell me and your father eventually, did she not, or were you and her going to keep it a secret from us forever?' 'I don't know mom, I only just found out-' 'WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ONLY JUST FOUND OUT!' On and on and on until my head explodes."  

"Fine," Rory relented. "Dinner tonight it is. Give me a minute, I’ll break the news to Paris.” 

“Good luck!” Lorelei singsonged. 

Rory went back out to the living room to find Paris looking at the photographs on the mantelpiece. She cleared her throat. Paris jumped about a foot in the air. 

“Where’s the popcorn?”

”Never mind that,” Rory hissed. “My grandparents are coming over for dinner. They want to meet you.” 

“Why did you say it like ‘they want to drug and kill you’? 

“You better hope your acting skills got better since lunch with your mom, that’s all I’m saying.” 

“Speak for yourself!” Paris retorted hotly. “I’ll earn my fucking equity card. You’ve been freaking out all day, what was your dream about?” 

“What?” 

“Your dream. What. Was. It. About,” Paris said extra-slowly. “Speak!” 

Rory huffed air out the side of her mouth. “It- You were Miss Havisham basically and I was that asshole who left you at the altar and everyone in town was here- it was just bad, that’s all.” 

Paris digested this. “One, don’t read Mr Dickens before bed anymore. Problem solved. Two, you’re scared of the town finding out you like girls, and you’re very scared of your family finding out we lied. The former is not that big a deal, from what you’ve told me the town is weird but accepting. And the latter is not going to happen! All is well. Calm the fuck down.” 

“Thanks.” Rory collapsed on the couch next to Paris and let her finger-comb her hair. Pretending to be a couple had gotten them a lot closer, she mused. 

 

——— 

 

The doorbell rang.

“Shit shit shit shit shit,” Rory muttered under her breath on the way to the door. “Grandma and Grandpa! Hi!”

“Hello Rory!” Emily and Richard hugged her in turn.

“Where’s Paris?” Emily whispered excitedly.

“In the living room, want to say hi?”

“Of course,” answered Richard.

“Emily and Richard!” Paris greeted them.

Rory was taken aback.

“How are you?” Paris asked as the four of them settled in the living room.

“Very well, thank you.” Richard smiled carefully as he surveyed the room. “Where’s Lorelei?”

“Yes, where is Lorelei?” Emily echoed loudly.

Rory discreetly peeked behind her to where Lorelei was cowering behind the door. The doorway appeared to sigh, then Lorelei emerged with a tray and a big fake smile.

“Sookie brought appetizers!” Lorelei announced. “And supper! And dessert for that matter, unless you like whipped cream from a can. Hey Mom, hey Dad.”

“Hello Lorelei,” Emily waved her fingertips. She turned back to Paris and Rory. “So? Might as well get right to it. How did this happen?”

“Mom!” Lorelei hissed.

“That’s alright Lorelei,” Paris waved her off. She gave the prepared spiel that she and Rory had perfected from repeating it so many times.

“Oh that’s lovely!” Emily beamed. Rory had never seen her look so pleased with any of her or Lorelei’s significant others before. “So now you’re going steady?”

“That’s right,” Rory jumped in. Paris took her hand, and an infectious smile broke out onto both of their faces. Something clicked all of a sudden for Rory as she caught Paris’ eye. “Oh my God,” she breathed.

“What is it?” Richard asked curiously.

“Nothing, um, I mean-” Rory shook her head as if to clear her ears of water. She turned to Paris. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Oh, okay,” Paris said uncertainly.

 

\----

 

The remaining three Gilmores sat in silence.

“So,” Lorelei attempted, “What do you think about those two? Pretty great, right?”

“Oh don’t be silly Lorelei,” Emily retorted, her practiced smile dropping off her face. “They’re lying! And you know about it!”

“Really Lorelei, how can you sit here and let them pretend-” Richard blustered.

Lorelei huffed. “Yes, from the second Jess told me something seemed off. If Rory and Paris had really gotten together she would’ve told me herself. But I don’t think they were _totally_ lying, I mean come on! When was the last time you saw Rory look at someone like that?”

Lorelei snuck over to the window to peek around the curtain.

“What are you doing?”

“Mom come on, they’re on the porch.”

“Lorelei-”

“Look!” Lorelei beckoned them over.

Rory and Paris were kissing.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! The ending felt a bit rushed but I didn't know how else to do it so.......yeah?
> 
> Comments/kudos always welcome! Let me know what you thought, and come talk about it on  
> [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/enjolras-lexa)


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